Video 4.10: Maggie & Latesha - Firm ground conversation

Maggie, a teacher in a child care center, and Latesha, a parent of a 4-year-old boy (Cameron), have a conversation about working together and learning from one another. This conversation highlights addressing challenging issues. (running time: 5 min. 02 sec.)

Slide text:

The brainstorming in middle ground yielded some positive results for a while. Now new concerns have arisen in the classroom.

Maggie:

I wanted to share that the best time of day for him is right after he wakes up after nap. He is just as gentle as a lamb. He's so cuddly and loving and he snuggles up and he just seems happy and peaceful. And that’s what I am trying to tap more of in the classroom for him, the happiness. He doesn’t have to be quiet and peaceful and cuddly all the time but those outbursts of anger or distress that we are seeing in him is really concerning us.

Slide text:

In response to Maggie’s inquiry about how things are going at home, Latesha shares her perspective.

Latesha:

Yeah, we've been having a rough time at home. Um, Cameron’s dad is no longer in the picture and yes it has caused him to show some behaviors that you know we haven’t seen in a very long time. And I have been concerned myself and we've had to try and figure out different things my mom and I that we could do with Cameron so that we could try to help him through this time. His dad still calls and he gets to talk to him on the phone but he is not as involved as he was before, so it's taken a really hard toll on Cameron. And so I'm just trying whatever I can do to, you know, help him out at home and I know it must be difficult for you all too.

Maggie:

Well that, that I am so glad that you shared that because that makes a lot more sense to me. You know that one of his favorite books of all times is “He’s got the whole world in His Hands” we must read that book 15 times a day, we even sing it. And most recently there is that one picture in the middle of the book that looks a lot like Cameron and he is with a daddy. And Cameron’s just been very adamant and repetitive about saying Cameron Cameron’s daddy, daddy Cameron’s daddy and we acknowledge yeah that's Cameron, yeah looks like Cameron’s daddy but just, you know, a little bit over the top. So this kind of puts it into context for us.

Knowing that he is unhappy and unsettled and actually pretty physical towards some of the other kids and you are saying that you are seeing some of that at home, would you be, would you consider that we maybe make a referral to have an assessment done that would check his behavior a little bit. I know that it would be helpful to us but I don’t know if you are ready to do that. You know the process is that you are able to make the referral to the public school system and they can come right here and do this for us here or we could do it too. But are we there yet? What do you think?

Latesha:

Yes actually I think that would be great. His older brother also, he's just been diagnosed with ADHD and so he had some of these behaviors that we have seen before so I do know a little bit about the process. But I think that would be a great idea. You know, anything at this particular time would help because we want Cameron of course to feel successful.

Maggie:

There is another resource that we have. I don’t know if you have ever heard of it, you might of in your own work. But it’s called the, let me get this right, the parent training and information center. It's right here locally. And they do workshops with parent’s families to help them learn how to advocate for their child in the system or just in situations like that. I know of a few parents who have gone and have really found it useful and helpful. It's free and it's an open service and if you are interested I'd be glad to give you that contact information.

Latesha:

Yeah I think that would be great. Anything would help right now I think especially if it is going to help Cameron out. And we can still keep that communication open with you as far as what it is we need to do in the classroom I guess to make those transitions better for him too. But yes at home I know that would definitely help me.

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